Swift’s Toronto stops create opportunities, risks for brands tied to show: marketers
Global News
Marketing experts say Swift's brand and fan base are so strong that Canadian companies which have links to the singer will reap the rewards of her Eras Tour too.
Companies marketing themselves in connection with Taylor Swift’s future swing through Toronto might feel an afterglow that outlives the pop star’s handful of shows in the country — but such brands also face several risks in tying themselves to the hotly-anticipated tour.
That’s the message marketing experts had as tickets to Swift’s six nights in Toronto next November — backed by Rogers Communications Inc. and Royal Bank of Canada — went on sale Wednesday.
Telecommunications giant Rogers has been marketing itself as the presenter of Swift’s Toronto stops at the Rogers Centre stadium, while RBC is listed as an official partner and will offer an exclusive allocation of tickets to its Avion members next week.
“Whether someone would switch bank or card allegiance due to access to a Taylor Swift concert is debatable, but (it) is `eyes on the prize’ and certainly there will be a lot of eyes on this event as we get to November 2024,” said Richard Powers, national academic director of the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, in an email.
The Eras tour, which kicked off in the U.S. in March and will span at least two years, has become one of the most lucrative shows in history.
Online research company QuestionPro said in June, ahead of Swift’s Toronto announcement, that fans had spent an average US$1,300 per show. About 70 per cent of the 596 people it surveyed said the money was worth it because the experience was so rewarding, while 91 per cent said they’d go again.
Despite ticket-holders paying more than they budgeted, QuestionPro said the Eras Tour achieved a Net Promoter Score — a metric measuring how likely someone is to recommend a brand or product to a friend — of 68, putting it on par with retailer Costco and tied with tech goliath Apple and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel chain.
QuestionPro estimated that if the current spending pace continues through the end of the tour, Swift will have generated an estimated US$5 billion in economic impact.